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Vinny Curry grew up an Eagles fan in New Jersey and helped bring the first Super Bowl championship to Philadelphia. He'll always have that.

But the Eagles have released the veteran defensive end.

Even though Curry had his best season in 2017, the five-year extension worth $47.25 million he signed in 2016 became untenable pretty quickly. Curry is still a good player but just wasn't worth the $11 million cap hit that faced the Eagles in 2018, especially not after the team traded for Pro Bowler Michael Bennett.

"We want to thank Vinny Curry for his contributions to our organization over the last six seasons, including the important role he played in bringing our city its first Super Bowl championship," the Eagles wrote in a statement.

"It's difficult to part ways with a player like Vinny who has made an impact on the field, in the locker room and in the community. We wish Vinny and his family all the best moving forward."

Even before Bennett came into the picture, the Eagles had last year's first-round pick, Derek Barnett, waiting for his opportunity to start. Either way, Curry has always seemed like the odd man out.

Cutting Curry will save the Eagles $5 million in salary cap space, with $6 million in dead money - the final three years of prorated signing bonus money.

Earlier in the week, the Eagles unsurprisingly asked Curry to restructure his contract, so a move was somewhat expected. The Eagles very likely tried to trade Curry first.

Curry, 29, finally got a chance to be a starter in 2017 and started all 16 games. In a reversal from his earlier years with the Eagles, Curry became a first- and second-down player this past season and showed an impressive ability to run-stuff. He used to be a pass-rusher who would take the field on third downs.

When Curry signed his big extension, it was a projection of what the Eagles hoped he could become. In 2014, he had nine sacks in a limited role, but he hasn't had more than 3½ in any of the three seasons since.

The Eagles used a second-round pick on Curry when he came out of Marshall in 2012. In his six seasons with the Eagles, he had 22 sacks and five forced fumbles.